RNL
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Post by RNL on Feb 1, 2008 5:33:06 GMT
Wow, that'd just about make be blind-buy the DVDs.
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Post by Michael on Feb 1, 2008 5:33:48 GMT
Would you say somebody who despises The Sopranos with every inch of his being has a chance of liking this show?
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Kino
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Post by Kino on Feb 1, 2008 5:43:20 GMT
Wow, that'd just about make be blind-buy the DVDs. Buy Seaon 1. Rent the rest. Then after watching them, buy the rest if you like 'em? I don't feel comfortable with people spending all that money at once 'cause of me. I'd feel much more comfortable if you folks rent it before buying it. I suggest DVDs and not downloaded files. That way you folks can use the subtitles. The Baltimore accents may take a while to get used to plus the legal and police terminology and especially the street slang might 'cause you guys to do a double-take.
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Kino
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Post by Kino on Feb 1, 2008 5:46:01 GMT
Would you say somebody who despises The Sopranos with every inch of his being has a chance of liking this show? A very good chance. This is coming from me, who likes The Sopranos a lot,....The Sopranos is silly and trivial in terms of content and theme compared to The Wire. In terms of social relevance, The Wire outclasses it by a galaxy.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Feb 1, 2008 6:15:16 GMT
Thank you Kino. I've seen the first two episodes of season five, and I rewatched season 1 and half of season 2 before I came back to school. This show has EVERYTHING.
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Post by Valenti on Feb 1, 2008 7:00:53 GMT
I've introduced my immediate family to this show, as well as a few friends.
They looooove it. I really wish Australia had fucking HBO.
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Kino
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Post by Kino on Feb 1, 2008 20:45:44 GMT
Would you say somebody who despises The Sopranos with every inch of his being has a chance of liking this show? A very good chance. This is coming from me, who likes The Sopranos a lot,....The Sopranos is silly and trivial in terms of content and theme compared to The Wire. In terms of social relevance, The Wire outclasses it by a galaxy. Forgot to say that the tone is totally different, too. The Wire doesn't have dream sequences or stuff like that, either. It doesn't have one main character like The Sopranos.
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Kino
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Post by Kino on Feb 1, 2008 20:52:09 GMT
I've seen the first two episodes of season five, From the get-go I knew the media/journalism aspect had great potential, but didn't exactly like the execution of it 'til about Episode 3 or 4. It's still getting the ball rolling, but that's what I love about its serial storytelling. There's time to flesh things out and set the table for what's coming up. I have faith it'll get better. Nice how stuff from the past is still significant now, huh? (The appearances of 2 characters in mind.) After all, I wasn't exactly hooked by the 1st 2 episodes of Season 4, but look how that season turned out! I'm going to rewatch Seasons 1-4 again.
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Kino
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Post by Kino on Feb 1, 2008 20:54:40 GMT
I've introduced my immediate family to this show, as well as a few friends. They looooove it. That's awesome. You should be commended for spreading the word. Now, you got to tap into your co-workers.
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Kino
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Post by Kino on Feb 1, 2008 21:26:36 GMT
Seriously. Not watching The Wire is like not watching The Mirror, Citizen Kane or The Godfather; not listening to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Dylan, Gershwin, or Mozart; not reading Dostoyevsky or Shakespeare. In short, it's probably the best example of greatest achievement in its medium. Why do you want to miss out? At least give it a try, if you don't like it, you don't like it. Cool. But try it in full. Last of this, I promise! First, while many of the greatest achievements in a medium are usually considered perfect as well (e.g., Kind of Blue, Summertime, or The Mirror), I'm not implying that The Wire is perfect. It isn't, but it's one of if not the best tv drama. Second, a note on the serial structure of the show. There are episodes, but it's about the season as a whole and ultimately about the entire series. The show's creator spoke of each episode as a chapter in a book (a The Wire season) and that book is one of many that makes up the epic novel (the entire series). Thirdly, because of the content of global issues like drugs and social institutions like law enforcement, schools, and government, The Wire is not just about the city of Baltimore, it's about anything urban anywhere. Lastly, the show's creator spent years as a crime reporter in Baltimore. The show's co-executive producer and writer (one of them) was a Baltimore cop and then later a school teacher. They also researched for months preparing for the docks. Thus, concludes this pitch meeting and my primer to the show. Hope to see your thoughts soon.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Feb 2, 2008 3:38:12 GMT
I haven't read any Dostoyevsky, and very little of Shakespeare. I completely get your praise of stuff like this, but I disagree that it should be at the belittlement of The Sopranos. If it gets people to watch the show, cool; but that show is the greatest thing I've ever seen.
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Kino
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Post by Kino on Feb 2, 2008 19:51:19 GMT
I haven't read any Dostoyevsky Try Crime and Punishment. I hope it's assigned by your degree program before you graduate. (Isn't literature part of your degree?). If not, don't wait on it. If you're not ready to jump into such an epic work, maybe you should start w/ his classic short story Notes From Underground. I wasn't belittling it because to me I wasn't implying that The Sopranos is silly and trivial outside of the comparison. To me, belittling The Sopranos would be me saying that The Sopranos is silly & trivial and has no social relevance, period, in order to praise The Wire. However, I only said those things in a comparison b/w the 2 shows. Meaning I do think The Sopranos also shows that capitalism in the criminal context makes human life more and more worthless and that the show's moral issues make us probe our own. As a result, I think The Sopranos is absolutely brilliant, but I think The Wire is a lot better - an opinion w/ no intents of slighting The Sopranos. I admit I should have been much more clear about that. And that was said assuming that people did read my previous, now deleted, The Wire and The Sopranos posts where I called The Sopranos the 2nd greatest tv series ever and said that The Sopranos is superior in 3 departments - humor, character uniqueness, and the psychological depth into 1 character (which is impossible in the humongous ensemble cast of The Wire). I brought up The Sopranos even before DVC's question b/c when one talks of an exemplary tv series one has to mention The Sopranos b/c it's that great and the benchmark by consensus. As far as I'm concerned, it was the greatest tv series ever until I saw The Wire Season 2 (wasn't ready to give that title after only 1 season).
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Feb 4, 2008 21:56:04 GMT
Well, for some reason the first disc (at least, I've not tried the others) has decided to work on my laptop. Still no luck playing The Sopranos, and none on the DVD remote either, so I may be watching this much sooner than expected. I watched 20 minutes of the pilot last night; seemed good!
(I'll go back to watch it from the beginning again, though, of course, when I come to watch it proper.)
That's it from me; I'm not coming back to this thread till I've seen the first season.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Feb 18, 2008 19:40:07 GMT
SEASON 5 SPOILERS
I had been taping the new (and last season) while I was away at school, but they were all ruined. So, one of my friends who is in to the show gave me a bootleg disk of the first four episodes of season five. I had already watched the first two when they originally aired. Last night, I watched the third episode, "Not for Attribution", and it might have been the strangest episode of "The Wire" to date.
Marlo in the Caribbean was sort of surreal. The show really left its element with that scene, and not in a bad way at all.
McNulty's serial killer staging was really funny, and uncomfortable at the same time. I hate to see him and Bunk drift apart, but it was really funny with McNulty sitting around and waiting for the clues to be picked up, only to be pushed back really far in the paper. Way to tie the themes together! I just couldn't believe that Freamon was getting involved.
The torturing and killing of Butchie was brutal. I didn't expect any of that. He was an interesting character who was slowly given more scenes after season 2. Clay Davis, a great villain who has also gotten more developed as the show has progressed, appears to finally be caught in a corner. His driver, who was arrested all the way back in Season 1, made his appearance in front of the grand jury. That was surreal, and another reason why I love this show. This character was quietly introduced at a dinner party scene in Season 1, and is now, six years later, representing the end of Clay Davis.
But it was the ending that was the strangest thing. It felt like a dream. That long shot of the beach front. At first I thought it was Marlo, but then its Omar! And the silence at the end, when he realizes that Butchie is dead........HAUNTING AS FUCK, and one hell of a cliffhanger.
This episode definitely felt different from anything that "The Wire" has ever done, and I love it.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Feb 18, 2008 20:22:06 GMT
And I just found out that episode four of season five won't play on my computer.
JUST MY FUCKING LUCK.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Feb 25, 2008 1:15:06 GMT
My local video emporium just got season box-sets of The Wire.
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Kino
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Post by Kino on Feb 25, 2008 1:19:50 GMT
Nice!
I found out that The Wire is broadcast on a tv channel in Ireland. Is that were you saw the commericals, Wetdog?
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Feb 25, 2008 1:31:41 GMT
I think it was on FX, though that's British. It could well be broadcast here, I don't pay much attention to what's on TV.
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Kino
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Post by Kino on Feb 25, 2008 1:38:52 GMT
I found out that Aidan Gillen who plays Carcetti on the show said it's the only non-Irish production and/or show not based on Irish culture that is shown on a certain channel in Ireland.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Feb 25, 2008 1:47:47 GMT
I looked it up; it plays on TG4, which is a government funded Irish-language channel. I find that pretty surprising.
They also play South Park dubbed into Irish, which is just... there are no words...
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